Pink Roses
by AnneM.Oliver
Summary: Everyday a pink rose would appear on Hermione Granger's desk. She soon finds out there's more to the rose than meets the eye. She also finds out that it involves one of five men... all former Slytherins.
1. Chapter 1

I wrote this because I missed the Slytherin boys... All characters and canon situations belong to JK Rowling and Warner Brothers and I make no money from the writing or publishing of this story.

**_Pink Roses  
>By<br>AnneM_**

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><p><strong><em>"But he who dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose." – Anne Bronte<em>**

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><p><strong>1 – Everyday She Found a Pink Rose<strong>

Everyday she found a pink rose upon her desk. Everyday for the last month, she would come into work and there it would be, a single pink rose lying on the middle of her desk.

It didn't matter what time she came into work. It didn't matter if she was late or early. No matter what time she would appear, it was always there… pink and partly open, fragrant and sweet, and in the middle of her desk. It didn't matter if she warded her office door, it didn't matter how hard she tried to discover how it would appear, no matter what she did, (or didn't) do, every day a single pink rose would appear on her desk.

As if by magic.

There was a note attached to the rose the first day. It was a quote by Anne Bronte, and it said, "But he who dares grasp the thorn should never crave the rose." Hermione had to admit she had never heard that quote before, not that it mattered. And after the first day, no other notes or explanations appeared.

So it was today, a simple Tuesday that she was sitting at her desk in the Department of Muggle Affairs, quietly examining yet another pink rose. Standing, she picked up the fragile bloom and placed it in a vase on top of her bookshelf along with a dozen or so others. Then she went to another vase by the artificial windows, where several of the older flowers were starting to die, and she removed them, but she didn't put them in the rubbish bin… she never did. She placed them in a box in the bottom drawer of her file cabinet, closing the lid just as someone entered her office.

"You got another one?" her best friend in the world, Harry Potter, asked.

She turned to face him. "It would appear so. It's been exactly a month. Thirty pink roses in all so far. Must be some sort of record, huh?"

"I don't like it," he said with a frown. "I still think we need to discover how and why it's happening."

She smiled. "We've tried that, Mr. Auror, and if you and I together have yet to discover the 'how', 'why' or even the 'who in the hell', then I think we'll never discover it. At least we know, from Bill Weasley's examination, that there's no dark magic or danger associated with them." She walked over to the newest bloom, picked it back up from the vase where it was housed, and took a large sniff. "I've come to appreciate them, actually."

Harry shook his head. "I've never known you to give up on a mystery before."

"Sometimes a rose is just a rose," she said, still smiling. "Now, was there something you needed from me?"

"Oh, yes, there was," he seemed to just realize. "Would you mind very much representing me at a meeting this afternoon? I have to jaunt over to Scotland to question a suspect that has to do with my latest investigation."

She made a funny face at his choice of words. "Jaunt over to Scotland? Is Scotland so close to London that one simply jaunts over there?"

He shrugged. "When one has use of international Portkeys, yes, one does jaunt over there. Now, will you go to the meeting for me?"

"Ron's your partner. Can't he 'jaunt' over to the meeting while you're in Scotland?"

Shaking his head no, Harry said, "No, he's coming with me."

"What's this meeting about? It can't be that important, because no one informed my department of it." She started to straighten files on top of her desk, then she looked up and said, "Or were we not invited?"

Harry placed a finger beside his nose and then pointed the same finger at her. "Now you're thinking like Hermione Granger. That would be correct. You weren't invited, but if you go in my steed, you'll find out what it's about. I don't even know at this point, but I know the Minister said it's important that the head of the Aurors go. I can't. I told him I would send you instead, and he seemed fine with that."

"Hmm," she hummed, thinking. "The head of the Aurors – you – were invited, but the head of Muggle Affairs – me – was not. I don't know whether to feel slighted or grateful." Harry laughed. She stood. "Fine, I'll go, but not because I want to do you a favour, but because you're right, I'm curious. What time is this all important meeting?"

Harry looked at his watch and said, "Five minutes from now."

Hermione stomped her foot and crossed her arms under her breasts. "Harry James Potter, you're impossible! That barely gives me time to get ready! What if I had something important planned? What if I had to go to the bathroom? What if…"

She got no farther, for Harry placed his hand on her lips and said, "Four minutes now. You best hurry."

Grabbing her wand and a notebook and pen from her desk, she started out the door, only to turn around. "Where is this 'so called' important meeting, Mr. Potter?"

"It's in the ante-chamber of the office of the assistant deputy Minister." Harry pushed her through the door and added, "And now you have three minutes, and that's four floors down from here. You don't want to be late. It would look bad for me if you were late."

"Indeed," she barked, flying out the door.

She started toward the lifts, but saw that there was a crowd of people waiting there, so she decided to take the stairs. Pushing open the door to the stairwell, she began to run down them. At the next landing she saw Draco Malfoy and Marcus Flint standing by the door.

"Gentlemen," she said with a nod, passing them.

"Granger," they said in unison.

Soon, she noticed that they were following her. She didn't give it another thought until she saw that at the next landing, Adrian Pucey and Theodore Nott were standing there, just as Malfoy and Flint had been standing at the one above. She merely nodded her head toward these two. Pucey nodded back, Nott did not.

She didn't have to turn her head to know that these two men were soon following closely behind the other two, who were still closely behind her. Although she was curious as to their intent and destination, she was also late. She pushed through the door at the landing where she was heading. She didn't fail to realize that all four men, former Slytherins all, exited the stairwell at the same time, using the same door, and were still walking closely on her heels.

She was about to turn around to ask them what they were about, when Blaise Zabini ran down the hall toward them. "You're all late!" he said in a rush. "The Minister is a bit peeved, to say the least."

From behind her, Draco Malfoy said, "It's Granger's fault. We were waiting for her."

Hermione was about to turn around and ask Draco Malfoy how in the world he could blame her (especially as he couldn't even have possibly known she was coming to this meeting in Harry's place) when Blaise Zabini took her wrist in his hand, and started to pull her along. She gasped, but followed, as he towed her quickly toward a door.

Blaise said, "I might have known."

"What?" she managed to reply. She didn't get another word out, nor a response to her question of 'what', because apparently she and all five men were finally at their destination.

Adrian Pucey was the one who opened the door. "Lady's first," he murmured.

Hermione looked back at the men, confused, but then turned toward the open door and showed herself inside. The five men followed on her heels.

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><p><em>*AN: This story is completed over on 'The Maple Bookshelf'. I'll be posting a chapter a week here, but if you want to read the entire thing, go over there. Don't be afraid to comment over there, either, but do remember to be kind. HA!_


	2. Chapter 2

_**"It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince**_

**Chapter 2 – This Was Going to be a Strange Meeting**

This was going to be a strange meeting, she decided while she sat down in a chair on the opposite side of the door, around a long table. The Minister of Magic was at one end, an old man she'd never seen before was sitting at the other.

Draco Malfoy sat down to her left, Blaise Zabini to her right, while the other three men sat on the other side of the table across from them. Giving everyone a moment to sit down and shut up, the Minister of Magic, the honourable Mr. Percy Weasley, said, "Shall we begin?"

Hermione was about to ask, "Begin what?" when Draco said, "I thought old Scarhead was coming with Granger here."

Hermione whipped her head around to face him. "Why would you think he was coming with me? I didn't even know I was coming here until five minutes or so ago. And to my knowledge, I wasn't even originally invited to this meeting. I'm here representing Harry, who had to go to Scotland."

"Scotland?" Theo Nott said with a laugh from across the table. "What's in Scotland?"

"Scottish people," Hermione spat.

"Right, Scotland," Marcus agreed, smiling at Theo.

Hermione frowned. "Scotland," she repeated. "That large country to the north of us. Scotland."

"I should have known damn Potter would chicken out," Draco retorted. "He does one brave thing in his life – saving our world – and now he thinks he can rest on his laurels and get all cowardly on us."

"Listen here, Malfoy…" she started again, this time interrupted by Adrian Pucey. "At least he made sure Granger came. He said he would see to that, and he did."

"Made sure I came to what?" she asked, looking around at the men beside and in front of her.

"Yes, but it was rather crucial he came as well," Marcus said, instead of answering her question. "And it's apparent from that dazed and confused look on her face that she hasn't a clue as to why she's here."

"Dazed and confused?" she asked louder… and with righteous anger.

Theo said, "Her current lack of knowledge might play to our advantage."

"Ahem," she feigned loudly, "I'm right here."

"Yes, we can see you darling," Blaise said with a wink. "It doesn't matter if Potter told her about this meeting or not. At least he got her here. We'll do the rest." He turned to Theo, "And we have to tell her the reason she's here. I've already thought of ways to deceive her, but in this instance, I feel the truth is the best way to go."

Draco scoffed, "The truth. What a concept."

Hermione clinched her fists in her lap, closed her eyes, and started to count to ten (to disperse her anger) when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to the tapper: Malfoy. "Damn rude of you to not pay attention when the Minister's talking, Granger. You never did have manners though, as far as I recall."

"I didn't tell Harry why I wanted her here. I merely said he was to make sure she came," Percy clarified, repeating the sentence she didn't hear while counting quietly to herself.

Hermione felt like exploding. She said, "You could have merely sent me an Owl, or Floo me, or yet, say a simple, 'Hermione, will you come to a meeting?' Those things would have 'made sure' I came as well." Hermione took a deep breath. "But, seeing how Harry _made sure I came,_ and now that I'm here, would you mind telling me WHY?"

"I'll do the honours," the elderly man at the other end of the long table volunteered. "Miss Granger, my name is Warren James. I've been hired by the Ministry of Magic. I own a public relations firm – the only magical public relations firm in England – and we've been tasked with helping the Ministry do the impossible. And I requested your help."

Now she was interested. Leaning forward, she said, "Help them do what?"

The older man looked around the table, then back at her. "Miss Granger, have you been aware of the recent backlash surrounding purebloods in the last two years?"

Nodding, she said, "Yes, of course. It all started with that book written by Lavender Brown."

Several of the men made disgusting noises at the mention of the book in question. Mr. James pulled a copy of the book out of his briefcase on the floor and scooted it across the table. It stopped right in front of Theo Nott. Taking a silk handkerchief out of his pocket, he picked the book up and placed it so it was facing Hermione.

She turned to look at Draco and couldn't help but smile. "Are you afraid to touch it, too, Malfoy?" She picked it up and then waved it under his nose.

"Get that offensive piece of shite away from me," he groaned, backing his chair away from the table.

Reading the title aloud: "_The era of the pureblood elitist is over; long live the half-blood and Muggleborn._" She laughed and placed the book on the table in front of her. "What does this have to do with me? What does this have to do with the people in this room? It's rubbish, and surely most people know that."

"But it's not, is it?" Adrian interjected. "Not in its entirety. Many of the things she's written are true. She wrote about many pureblood traditions and customs, about pureblood prejudices, and those things aren't actually lies."

Marcus leaned over from the other side of the table and picked the book up. Opening it at a random spot, then leafing through the pages, he said, "Yes, she all but made a joke out of everything, or distorted things tremendously. She even compared purebloods to Nazis and extremists. She's basically taken every single pureblood tradition, dissected them, and then made them into jokes."

Blaise said, "She did more than that. She's caused a social outcry against purebloods the likes of which we've never seen in this country before. It's as if it is now socially acceptable to have prejudices against purebloods."

"As if purebloods haven't acted as if it's been okay to be socially prejudiced against everyone else for years," Hermione replied. "I agree her book could be considered dangerous, if anyone took it seriously, but they don't," she looked at Percy, and asked, "Do they?"

Percy said, "This book is a best seller, already in it's third printing, and it's spinning off a movement of sorts. People are going around wearing shirts that condemn purebloods. There are anti-pureblood rallies, articles in the newspapers denouncing all things pureblood, an outcry to sanction pureblood families and add extra taxes to them, and even campaigns to change laws."

Hermione sat back and folded her arms across her chest. "And it's an election year, and you're a pureblood, Percy."

Percy cleared his throat and said, "That's beside the point."

"Then let's get to the point," she urged. "What does any of this have to do with the people in this room? Most importantly, what does it have to do with me?"

"In case you've not noticed, Granger," Draco began, leaning back in his chair, "you're the most famous… well for sake of argument, let's just call you 'Muggleborn' person in our world."

She glared at him and said, "You'd better say 'Muggleborn' instead of the alternative, Draco Malfoy."

He picked a piece of lint off her shoulder (real or imaginary) and said, "You say Muggleborn, some people say mudblood, but basically it's the same thing."

She pushed away from the table, pointed at Draco and shouted, "This is the reason purebloods are vilified right now! People like Draco Malfoy, who still calls people like me 'mudblood' even though he knows it's wrong and degrading! And can you blame them? People want to forget about the war with Voldemort. It's been ten years, but they remember that it was all brought about because of pureblood prejudices against people like me!"

She picked up her notebook and pen and said, "And I'm sorry gentlemen, but all the public relation firms in England and beyond can't help you, I'm afraid." She started for the door.

Adrian, whom Hermione just realized was the undersecretary to the Minister, got there first. "That's why we need you, Hermione. Please. We need you to help us here. People respect you. You work for the Department of Muggle affairs, for goodness sakes. You've done great things since the war ended, like starting that college fund for war orphans, and building the wing at St. Mungo's for people permanently injured in the war. Please, sit back down and hear us out."

She turned around and looked at the men sitting around the table. With a sigh, she returned to her seat. Draco stood up and started to push her chair under the table for her, but she turned to him and said, "I can do this myself, Malfoy, and I swear, if you ever call me that word again, I'll use an Unforgivable on you."

"And we'd all let her, without even a single qualm," Theo smiled.

Draco had the audacity to laugh as he held up his hands, and then sat down beside her. "I want to point out, in my defense, that I didn't call you 'that word', Granger. I merely said it in association to you. Big difference."

"Your bollocks won't think it's a big difference when I hex them into the size of peanuts," she mumbled.

Everyone laughed, including Draco. "What do you want from me?" she asked Mr. James.

"I want you to help my firm help the Ministry. All of these gentlemen, coming from prominent pureblood families, are also set to help. You'll work with my associate, Mr. Zabini here. You can help anyway you'd wish, but just having your name associated with our cause will be a prodigious help."

Giving it a thought, she said, "You want people to know that we're actively trying to disperse the notions in this book, or do you want it to be more, shall I say it, covert?"

"Whatever you all decide," Percy replied. "We'll trust your judgment."

She bit her lip now, giving it serious consideration. "I can't possibly do my job and this at the same time."

"Fine," Percy said, "if that's what's necessary, you're granted a leave of absence with full pay."

Mr. James said, "And of course, we'll pay you a generous stipend as well."

"Money isn't important." Bringing her hands together, she looked around the room, "I think it's best if we find a place to work here at the Ministry. We can let people think we're all working on some special project. Three of the men work here already," she nodded to Nott, Flint and Pucey across from her, "and Zabini works for the PR firm, so we can figure out a reason to say he's working with us."

She nodded her head in the direction of Malfoy and said, "And we can pretend Draco is giving us money, or some such nonsense, since that's all he does these days."

"What are you going on about?" Draco interposed. "I do more than bandy my money around, Miss Granger."

She turned to him. "Really? What do you do? What's your job?"

He frowned. "That's beside the point."

"What is the point?" she asked back.

He paused, and then said, "The point is I don't really give anyone my money either." He leaned back, crossed his arms in front of him and frowned.

Blaise smiled and said, "Hence, the reason people perceive purebloods in a poor light." He laughed and added, "He can be our poster-child."

"I don't know what that means, but I bet it's not a compliment," Draco pouted.

Hermione tried to hide her smile. Patting Draco's arm she said, "It just means you're the perfect or quintessential example of our cause." She turned back to Blaise. "It will be a challenge, but I've always liked challenges. I guess you can count me in."

Adrian and Marcus applauded. Theo said, "Is it over? I'm in the mood for lunch." Blaise leaned back in his chair with a smile. Draco reached in his pocket and removed a single gold piece. He threw it toward the middle of the table. It landed on the book.

"There's my contribution to your cause, since Granger thinks that's all I'm good for, now, who wants to go eat besides Nott? I guess it's my treat." He stood, along with the other men. They started filing out the door. They were all gone from the room, including Percy and Mr. James, when Draco leaned his head back inside to look at Hermione. "Well, are you coming?"

She looked surprised, but stood from the table and said, "Oh, yes, yes of course I'm coming. We can start brainstorming right away."

Draco inhaled a long breath as she practically skipped around him out the door. "We've created a monster, and her name is Hermione Granger."


	3. Chapter 3

_**"I feel as if I had opened a book and found roses of yesterday sweet and fragrant, between its leaves." - LM Montgomery, Anne of the Island**_  
><strong><br>Chapter 3 – Let the Games Begin**

Let the games begin, Hermione thought as she sat down at her desk, looking at five former Slytherins moving around her office. Blaise was looking mildly distracted (or bored?) as he sat down in the seat next to her desk, Adrian was fingering all her books on the wall to floor bookshelf (he'd better not get them out of order!). Marcus was sorting through the mail in her outbox (how rude!). Theo sat down in a chair in the corner of her office, closed his eyes, and folded his arms on his chest (was he sleeping?), and Draco Malfoy was smelling her roses (how odd).

She didn't know how she was going to get through this with this group of men, but she had never backed down from a challenge before, and she wasn't about to do so now.

"Gentlemen, shall we start?" she asked.

"I thought we were going to lunch," Theo remarked, eyes still closed, perfectly relaxed.

"We should get some work done first," Hermione pointed out. "And besides, its only a bit after ten o'clock."

"My stomach doesn't tell time," Theo replied, never opening his eyes. "It eats when it wants to eat."

Before she could comment, Draco asked, "What's with all the flowers, Granger?" He pointed to the vases of pink roses on her desk, her bookshelf, the mantel.

"I like flowers," she answered, rolling her eyes. "Can we just please start this meeting?"

"Who elected you as the head of this group?" Adrian asked her while moving to sit in the chair in front of her desk, next to Marcus. "I'm usually in charge of things." He knocked his elbow into Marcus' and said, "Tell her, Marcus. Tell her I'm usually in charge of things."

Marcus grinned and said, "He's usually in charge of things."

"Why is that?" Hermione wondered aloud. "Because you're the Under Secretary?"

Adrian laughed loudly, just as Marcus snorted and Blaise made a funny sound under his breath. "No, because I'm the eldest and the unofficial leader of this little group."

"We didn't elect him or anything," Draco pointed out, coming to sit on the left side of her desk. He picked up a folder on her desk and started to read through it. "He just came by it naturally."

Theo, eyes still shut, said, "He's a self-appointed despot."

She frowned at that statement and pulled the folder from Draco's hands. Before she could point out the fact that Mr. James AND Percy had asked her to help them – thus making her in charge in her opinion - Blaise said, "I'm in charge. This task was given to me, by my boss Warren James, who was hired by the Minister himself, and I'm the one who solicited Granger's help in the first place."

Now Marcus laughed. "That doesn't make you in charge. Let Granger do what she does best, boss everyone around, that way everyone will be happy." He turned to Hermione and said, "What's your plan, Granger?"

She leaned back in her chair. "Seeing how I've only known of this for less than an hour, I don't have any plans as of yet. However, we should brainstorm and come up with some ideas."

Theo, whose eyes were closed again, said, "You brainstorm. I'm too hungry. Maybe when you're finished we can go to lunch."

Draco, who had a smirk crossed with a grin on his face, asked the other man, "Why so tired, Nott? Late night last night?"

Theo smiled (eyes closed) and said, "It went into the early morn, so yes, late night in every sense."

"Excellent," Draco replied, still smiling.

Hermione felt like vomiting. "Shall we get back to things, gentlemen?"

"Yes, let's," Adrian said. "We need to think of things we can do to bring purebloods back into a better light."

"We could do something for some charity," Marcus suggested. "People always like it when they are given money, and Granger's the queen of charitable causes."

"Hence the reason I agreed to work with you lot," she responded lightly, "Although, that's not a half bad idea." Hermione bit her bottom lip, and then added, "But it will take more than that. I think we need to plan a big event – for charity – but in the interim, we need to get each and every one of you to do individual things that will help polish your tarnished reputations."

"My thoughts exactly," Blaise agreed.

"My reputation isn't tarnished, although I'll admit it's not as shiny as some," Draco said, "And what exactly do you have in mind, Granger?"

Hermione thought for a moment. "Do we know anyone connected with _The Daily Prophet_?"

Marcus said, "Blaise can help you there. His fourth stepfather still owns it, doesn't he Blaise?"

"He's my fifth stepfather, and yes, he owns it, and has a soft spot for me, even though he was only married to my mother for 72 days." He turned his gaze to Hermione. "And I like your thinking, Granger. We can have _The Prophet _report on all our good deeds, and Muggle influenced happenings. Brilliant."

"Muggle influenced happenings?" she mused aloud. "Fine, that taken care of, we need to decide what our big event should be."

"Can't we just pretend to be working on a big event?" Draco asked from her left side. "I don't want to actually do something good… wouldn't want to be labeled a do-gooder."

"No, much better to be deemed a pureblood elitist who disdains everything and everyone Muggleborn or half blood." She sighed louder after her statement.

"I'm so glad you understand, Granger," Draco joked.

Blaise leaned forward in his chair, "I have it! It's brilliant!"

"What is it?" Marcus inquired.

"We'll hold a ball, with all proceeds going to a charity that benefits Muggleborns. It could be a masquerade ball. And we'll make sure the charity is something worthy… something like a scholarship program for Muggleborns, or some other asinine thing."

"And we can all bring dates to the ball who AREN'T purebloods," Adrian chimed in.

"Do we know that many Muggleborns?" Theo asked, finally opening his eyes and sitting upright.

Hermione looked at him like he was insane. "Most of the girls we went to school with were half-blood or less, Nott."

"None that I associated with," he said sincerely. "I hate to burst your little Muggleborn bubble, but since we're all purebloods, we mainly only date purebloods, but not due to bigotry. It's mostly because we're all Slytherin, Granger. We had only purebloods in our house, so those are the girls in which we became acquainted."

"But I'm sure that's not true," she argued. "Severus Snape wasn't a pureblood, and he was in Slytherin. The sorting hat wanted to put Harry Potter in Slytherin, and he's a half-blood, too."

"I had no clue," Theo said sincerely.

Hermione turned to Adrian, "And I think that's a good idea, Adrian. We'll make sure you all show up with half-bloods or Muggleborns. That will help people to realize that not all purebloods only date purebloods."

She tapped her pen on her desk. "But there has to be more than that. We have to do more than just have a ball, and set you all up with dates that aren't purebloods. We need to start doing things everyday that will show you all in the best possible light. Good deeds are rewarded in many ways, you know?"

She stood. "I'll find a charity worthy of the proceeds from the ball, which we'll hold in one month's time," she said, walking back and forth behind her desk. "In the meanwhile, we'll need to figure out things we can do with each one of you that will dispute, or repudiate, claims that you're pureblood bigots. We'll refute all claims and bad press regarding your… your… well, purebloodness."

"Good luck with that," Draco mumbled under his breath.

Hermione sat back down and linked her hands together on her desk. "Let's start with something mundane." She turned to Marcus. "You're the vice chairman of the Board of Magical Games and Regulations, right?"

"Yes…" he drew out slowly.

"Let's do something with that," she said, slightly excited. "I propose we plan a sporting event, or a game, maybe a Muggle game, like a golf outing. It doesn't necessary have to be a charity event, but just something big, which will draw the attention of the press and the people. If people see a bunch of purebloods 'lowering' themselves to play a Muggle game, they will begin to see you all in a different light."

"Fine," Adrian agreed, "but not golf. For one thing, many purebloods play golf."

"Oh," she replied. "I didn't know that. Well, surely there's another game… cricket perhaps?"

"I've played cricket," Theo chimed in.

Hermione thought for a moment. "Polo?"

"We've all have ridden horses… grew up around them," Marcus answered. "Therefore, most of us have played polo before."

She sat back down in her seat. Scratching the side of her head, she said, "There must be something… something popular with Muggles, something urbane, yet common enough to show that you aren't all the pureblood snobs everyone knows you to be."

"Sounds to me as if she's a reverse snob," Draco said. "She thinks she's better than us, because she's a mud… I mean, Muggleborn." Draco smiled.

She glared at him. "My wand is itching to hex you to kingdom come, Malfoy."

"Settle children," Blaise said with a laugh. "I think I know the perfect game. Let's all meet tonight. I'll send you Owls with the location, and I'll also take care of letting the press know where we're meeting."

He switched his gaze to Hermione. "You bring a few of your friends, but make sure they're all Muggleborns or half-bloods, male or females, it won't matter."

"And what game do you have in mind?" Marcus asked. "I can't imagine what game we can play at night, besides Quidditch." He turned to the other men. "I mean, we can't play soccer, or cricket, or rugby, very easily at night. Neither could we play tennis or race motorcars. What's left?"

Blaise smiled slyly and said, "Bowling."

Hermione burst out laughing. "I said something urbane. Bowling is the antithesis of urbane."

"That makes it perfect," Blaise regarded. "Don't you see?"

Hermione nodded, "Yes, you're right. Bowling it is!"

Marcus laughed, Theo and Draco looked confused, but it was Adrian who finally asked, "What's bowling?"

Hermione smiled back at Blaise and said, "See? Perfect! I'll see you all tonight."

_A/N Remember, you can hop over to The Maple Bookshelf and read the completed story there! Thanks!_


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